The 40th anniversary of ZZ Top's hit "Eliminator" album is being celebrated by the syndicated radio show In The Studio With Redbeard: The Stories Behind History's Greatest Rock Bands.
Redbeard had this to say, "Prior to the March 1983 release of ZZ Top's Eliminator, it's not like the Texas trio had been struggling or anything. Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard had already been releasing albums and touring for over a decade, and Gibbons had been elevated among the rock world's most prestigious guitar players as a wholly original and immediately identifiable Tone Monster. But Eliminator, with its four Top Twenty hits, modern ear candy updated production, and campy, quirky videos blanketing the new 24-hour video channel MTV forty years ago, was a flat-out international phenomenon.
"Up to ZZ Top's March 1983 release Eliminator, one of my secret weapons at making ROCK 103 the top-rated radio station in Memphis from 1980 through 1983 was the friendship that developed with the late legendary studio owner John Fry and his wonderfully talented staff at the world-renowned Ardent Studios nearby. As it turned out, one of my personal favorite bands, Houston-based ZZ Top, had discovered the high caliber, low key facility as early as their 1973 breakthrough album Tres Hombres, and in typical Bill Ham style ( the band's colorful longtime manager and producer who passed away in 2016), 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. So ZZ Top proceeded to make every subsequent album there with ace Ardent recording engineer Terry Manning, with titles en Espanol including Fandango , Tejas , DeGuello , and El Loco.
"By February 1983, ROCK 103's owner decided to reinvest some of the record revenues back into the facility with a major control room studio update, complete with new broadcast console, electronics, and JBL monitors. When I mentioned this fact to ZZ Top's veteran recording engineer Terry Manning, he replied,'Before you go 'live' to broadcast with your new studio, would you allow me to play the master mix of the unreleased ZZ Top album in there?' I could not believe my good fortune!
"Terry arrived with two large metal reels of tape, loaded them onto the pristine new Studer reel machines, and pushed the 'play' button. What happened next absolutely blew me away: 'Gimme All Your Lovin' ', followed in rapid succession by 'Got Me Under Pressure' and 'Sharp Dressed Man' played at about rock concert sound level, left me in sensory boogie overload. It was just too good to absorb the sonic banquet that ZZ Top was serving up.
"And just when I begged 'Have mercy!' to break from the intensity of Billy Gibbons' feedback-soaked 'squanking' guitar, the late Dusty Hill's propulsive bottom end, and Frank Beard's in-the-pocket drumming, the song sequence shifted to the cascading midnight blues of 'Need You Tonight'; the Dusty raunchy rave up 'I Got the Six', the international hit 'Legs', and the grinding smoldering groove of 'TV Dinners'.
"In just a few weeks the rest of the world would soon discover what I had experienced that day, responding by purchasing over 15,000,000 copies of Eliminator worldwide. And yes, the series of clever, campy videos on the upstart MTV video channel in America undoubtedly had much to do with that staggering level of popularity (truly ironic, since manager Ham had steadfastly kept ZZ Top off of U.S. television until then). But the songwriting, musicianship, modern arranging, and state-of-the-art recording on Eliminator which I heard forty years ago was truly extraordinary.
"ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard are my guests here In the Studio to document 'Gimme All Your Lovin' ','Got Me Under Pressure','Sharp Dressed Man','Legs', 'TV Dinners', the smoldering blues 'I Need You Tonight', and of course I will share my archival interview with the late rave-up singing bass player, Dusty Hill, in tribute." Stream the episode here.
Frank Beard Returns To ZZ Top's Elevation Tour
ZZ Top Adds New Leg To Elevation Tour
ZZ Top In The Studio For 'Fandango' 50th Anniversary
ZZ Top's Frank Beard Drops Off The Elevation Tour For Health Reasons
Dave Koz & Friends at Sea Cruise, Part 3: All Ashore! The Cruise Reaches Norway and Iceland
Caught In The Act: Cheap Trick Rocks Chicagoland On July 4th
Dave Koz & Friends at Sea Cruise, Part 2: Dave, Dave, Dave!
Sites and Sounds: Montana Folk Festival Coming to Butte (And It's Free!)
Dave Koz & Friends at Sea Cruise, Part 1: Sax Man and Pals Set Sail in Europe
ELO Cancel Their Historic Final Concert Due To Jeff Lynne Illness
Metallica Giving $100,000 To Texas Flood Relief
38 Special Releasing First New Album In 20 Years
Duane and Lisa Betts Announce 2025 Horseshoe Music Fest Lineup
Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects Revisits 'Dirty Little Secret' For Vevo Footnotes
Joanne Shaw Taylor Unplugs For New Version Of 'Hold Of My Heart'
Goo Goo Dolls Get Nostalgic With 'Nothing Last Forever' Video
Attack Attack! Unleash 'I Complain On R/Metalcore'